Tribulation
The Greek word θλιψις (thlipsis) is often translated as ‘tribulation’. It comes from the word for pressure, whether literal or figurative.
It’s used in the Bible to describe suffering or hardship in which people feel trapped or oppressed. It’s not the same as being attacked; it’s more like being restricted, or left without any options. HELPS Word Studies describes as feeling there is ‘no way of escape’.
It’s sometimes used in the context of the end times, when the world is in chaos and the righteous are persecuted.
However, for our project, the translation ‘tribulation’ has two main problems:
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It’s a very old-fashioned word, most people don’t really know what it means, and they may mix it up with merely being attacked externally, losing the meaning of being trapped or oppressed.
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It’s become exclusively associated with end-times thinking, leading some readers to think that every mention of ‘tribulation’ is referring to the end times, when it can actually be used in a much wider context.
So to solve these problems, we often translate it with terms like distress, problems, great difficulty, and others like these.